99 



successful remedy unless it be starvation by general refusal to 

 sow their favorite food plants in districts where they are present. 

 Will damage corn this year locally, but not enough to affect the 

 general crop. 



Farmers' Keview, Aug. 17, 1887. A Crusade against Insects. 



Correspondent from Red Bud, liandolpli Co., 111., advises con- 

 certed action by neighborhoods against chinch bugs and other in- 

 sects; closely mowing old stubbles, weeds, and grain left standing, 

 before plowing, and burning them clean when dry. Would also 

 remove old fences and clear and burn off the ground before replac- 

 ing the fence. Speaks favorably of strips of oats, and especially 

 of flax, between wheat and corn, and of the use of lime fertilizers. 



J[ohnson], B. F. — Our Illinois Correspondence. (Cultivator and 

 Country Gentleman, Aug. 18, 1887, v. 52, p. 636. 

 A wet season is the only efficient check on the chinch bug. For 

 the last fifty years these insects have appeared in Central Illinois 

 during the dry seasons and disappeared in the wet seasons. 



Chamberlain, W. I. — The Iowa Drouth. Definite Facts. (Cul- 

 tivator and Country Gentleman, Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, 1887, 

 V. 52, pp. 652, 690.) 



Chinch bugs first noticed in Hungarian July Stopped 

 growth for two weeks. Second brood destroyed the grass. The 

 young bugs in four cubic inches of earth with Hungarian roots 

 numbered 3,025 , by count. Farmers questioning advisability of 

 raising spring wheat or Hungarian. Field corn on college farm 

 damaged about twenty-five per cent.; fodder corn on turf about 

 seventy-five per cent. Hungarian yielded only half a ton per 

 acre on very rich soil. Three furrows plowed three feet apart and 

 pulverized by dragging log failed to arrest movement of chinch 

 bugs, although many died in the furrows. Attempt to destroy in 

 Hungarian by mowing the grass and burning partly failed on ac- 

 count of wet weather. Bugs killed with kerosene emulsion on 

 outer rows of corn by using garden force-pump from wagon. Con- 

 cludes that man is really and practically powerless against this 

 insect when it appears in force in a dry season. Believes the 

 only remedy is to refrain from raising its favorite crops, espe- 

 cially spring wheat and Hungarian. Both corn and Hungarian 

 much worse attacked on sod than on old ground. 



Statistical Pveport of the Illinois State Board of Agricult- 

 ure FOR August, 1887. Circular 137, pp. 15-28. Cor- 

 respondents' Remarks. 



Clinton, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Fayette, Franklin, 

 Hamilton, Jefferson, Johnson, Madison, Saline, Shelby, Washing- 

 ton, Wayne, and Whiteside Go's. Corn damaged by drouth and 

 chinch bugs; nearly ruined in many localities. Alexander Co. 

 Oats injured. Jaekson Co. Rain has. checked chinch bugs. 

 Macoupin and Perry Go's. Small grain injured. Marion Co. 



